10.6 Recognition and validation of skills acquired through youth work
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Existing arrangements
The Youth Sector Development Plan 2021-2035 defines youth work (including hobby education for young people) to have an important role in the development of young people with providing versatile knowledge, skills and attitudes. Hence, the recognition of competences gained through diverse variety of youth work activities available to young people in Estonia, is of utmost important.
There are some initiatives offering the possibility to reflect the voluntary experiences and the obtained competences. For example, Tankla volunteer pass (Tankla vabatahtliku pass) on regional level in Estonia and YouthPass enabling to issue a certificate of participation in youth work activities of the European youth programmes.
At the national level, there is the recognition system of prior learning and working experience (VÕTA), which helps in validating the prior experiences for formal education, no matter how well you studied. VÕTA can also be used in the applying process of a professional qualifications certificate (also for youth worker certificates). This is something young people aged 18-26 years old can use as it is targeted mainly at adult education. See Chapters 3.5. and 6.4.
Skills
The Youth Sector Development Plan 2021-2035 defines youth work (including hobby education for young people) to have an important role in the development of young people with versatile knowledge, skills and attitudes, incl. empowering the youth and creating prerequisites for efficient gaining of independence,
- acquiring work experience, becoming more aware of changes on the labour market,
- empowering young people as the carriers and spokespeople for values.
The national youth strategy declares that youth work allows the young people to enjoy their youth, get to know themselves and others and thereby learn to better navigate the surrounding world. Youth work supports the development of future skills, general competencies and special skills, strengthens social networks and social capital and has a positive effect on behaviour, including the development into an entrepreneurial citizen who shows initiative.
Following this, the recognition of competencies gained through diverse variety of youth work activities available to young people in Estonia, is of utmost important. As the national youth strategy highlights, the talents, interests and creativity of young people must be consistently encouraged, considering the knowledge, skills and experience acquired in non-formal studies within their formal studies as well as the labour market.
At the national level, the Ministry of Education and Research started in 2021 the project “Supporting young people to succeed – building capacities to better integrate non-formal and formal learning” which aims to create a framework for describing the knowledge, skills and experiences acquired during non-formal learning, and for evaluating and considering the quality of what has been learned when completing the curricula of elementary school, high school and vocational education.